Glimpses of Happiness
by Jade24
Summary: Penny is just a small town girl with big dreams.  But maybe her dreams have different plans...  Slight S/P ONE-SHOT


Written for the Session #3 Fiction Challenge #1 over at Paradox.

**Prompt**: barcode  
><strong>Spoilers<strong>: None really. This is a "past-fic" with general references to the show.  
><strong>Rating:<strong> G  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> 705  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Do not own. :(

* * *

><p><strong>Glimpses of Happiness<strong>

Beep.

Beep.

"Paper or plastic?"

"Paper, dear."

Beep.

Beep.

"Your total is $12.82." Penny smiled patiently as the elderly woman before her dug through her change purse.

"You have such a lovely smile, Penny dear. Why, you should be in Hollywood, in them pictures." A familiar image came to the young clerk's mind, one she had poured over in her dreams many times before. Lights flashing, cameras clicking, people shouting 'Miss Penny, over here!' as she walked down the red carpet; a designer dress on her perfect tan body, a handsome man on her arm.

To be in the movies was Penny's dream, any girl's dream really. It was her escape route from the counter of Uncle Al's General Store; her escape from Nowhere, Nebraska. Where everyone knew her name, but only because either their daughter talked about her behind her back, or their son had plans to steal and break her heart (if he hadn't already). She was done with this small town drama, ready to move on to bigger and better things. Like California, like Hollywood, where small-town girls like her could get their name in lights and on a cement star.

"Thank you, Mrs. Peterson." She looked down at the money that had been placed in her hand. Two cents short. She could slip two pennies in the cash register later, no need to bother the old woman.

"Or maybe you could be one of those scientists like my Donnie." Mrs. Peterson continued to gush as Penny gathered up the last of the items on the counter and placed them in the bag. "You've got a mind to match that smile, I'm sure."

Science. That was a career path Penny hadn't really thought about. Her grades in the 'smart' classes weren't very high, but mixing stuff in chemistry had been fun. Her teacher, hoping to pique the class's curiosity, had shown the girls how to make various natural perfumes (and then showed the boys which chemicals to add to make them burn crazy colors).

Still, Penny couldn't imagine herself working in a lab everyday. She got bored with the subjects too quickly to really retain any formulas or 'important' facts. She memorized it for the test the next day, then whoosh, out of mind. Leave that to the 'beautiful minds' that were made to do all that math stuff. Memorizing all Scarlett's lines from 'Gone With the Wind' was more her thing.

Besides, but what would she possible have in common with nerdy scientists? It's not that she didn't like them, but all the 'science types' she knew at school were either too busy doing their advanced calculus homework to talk, or were too awkward to manage a word in front of her. Having to interact with folks like that on a daily basis didn't look too promising.

"Maybe, Mrs. Peterson." Penny continued to smile as she handed the lady her bag. "Have a great day, ma'am."

"You too, Penny dear. You keep smiling, too. I always told my Donnie, smiling lets happiness know where to find you."

The store bell rang, while Penny watched her latest customer hobble out to her car. Happiness. For Penny, happiness was in California, she was sure of it.

Unbidden, new images flashed through her mind. Her standing in an apartment full of boxes. A broken-down elevator. White boards covered in numbers and symbols. Star Wars sheets. Arguing over a dead cat. Boxes full of flowers. Spaghetti with hot dogs. A laundry room.

'What the?' she thought. Penny was even more confused when she noticed the feeling of elation those images had given her. More than even her dreams of Hollywood did. But they weren't memories; she had never been in an apartment like that and certainly didn't put hot dogs on her spaghetti. Was she seeing the future or something?

No, that was silly. Just like it was silly that such random things would someday equal happiness to her. Her future was in the movies, in lights. She'd be surrounded by glitz and glamour, and she'd find a leading man to love. Just limos, parties, scripts, and excitement. No run-down apartments. No math on whiteboards. And certainly no scientists.

-end-


End file.
